Embryonic Stem Cell Research in India

Here's another perfect example of how the "only the ‘leftover' frozen embryos destined to die" argument in favor of embryonic stem cell research was only a ploy for many researchers.

A dozen times over the past one year, fertility specialist Indira Hinduja has reached into a canister of liquid nitrogen and pulled out thin plastic straws that hold live human embryos frozen at minus 196 degrees Celsius....

Each time, Hinduja and her research collaborator Deepa Bhartiya have waited for the embryo to thaw, grow and yield stem cells — an extraordinary class of cells that medical researchers hope to use to treat cancer, diabetes, heart disease and brain damage, among other illnesses.

But after a year of trying, they don't have a single set of embryonic stem cells.

Now they want to try and harvest stem cells from fresh human embryos, not frozen ones. Bhartiya and Hinduja are among scientists in India who want national ethical guidelines revised to allow the creation of human embryos exclusively for research.

Not content to experiment on embryonic stem cells that have already been harvested from embryonic human beings, these researchers have killed numerous human embryos over a year in the hope of extracting stem cells on their own. They've failed over and over again and because of their failure they now want to revise ethical guidelines.

The "we just want the embryos that are already going to be destroyed" line goes right out the window when researchers hit the wall and those human embryos aren't enough. It's a classic example of foot-in-the-door technique where once the scientists can convince the public that they only want an ounce of flesh, they go about working to carve out a pound.

HT: Laura's Writings